Magnetically Guiding Atoms with Current-Carrying Conductors

We propose a novel magnetic guide for cold neutral atoms using some current-carrying conductors. The spatial distributions of the magnetic fields from a V-shaped or U-shaped current-carrying conductor are calculated, and the relationship between the resulting magnetic field and the parameters of the current-carrying conductors is analysed in details. The result shows that these current-carrying conductors can be used to realize a single or a controllable double magnetic guide of cold atoms in the weak-field-seeking state, and to construct various atom-optical elements, and even to realize a single-mode atomic waveguiding under certain conditions.